Welcoming Syrian Families
Since 2011 the violent conflict in Syria has displaced millions of people. More than half of Syria’s population have been forced from their homes to seek sanctuary elsewhere. Under the Syrian VPR scheme, Norwich County Council offered to resettle 200 Syrians over two years and the local Schools of Sanctuary network have been finding ways to welcome these sanctuary seekers to their city.
To help pupils welcome these families into their communities, Norfolk Schools of Sanctuary created a lesson to introduce Key Stage 2 pupils to the Syrian conflict and to help them understand some of the challenges these families may face as they find their feet in a new place. Six schools used the lesson to create welcome cards for the families resettling in Norwich. These included self-portraits of the pupils and messages of welcome in both English and Arabic.
On arrival in Norwich, the cards were waiting for the families in their new homes. In addition to the messages of welcome, schools raised money in order to help furnish the families’ homes. Over the past two years, the local Schools of Sanctuary network have worked together to raise over £3,000, which went towards purchasing 14 double mattresses for these families.
You can access the resource used for this project by clicking on the link below